


The Brighter Flame

by Yourking



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-04 13:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6659926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yourking/pseuds/Yourking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a muggle saying, "the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." Harry had heard it a few times growing up, not too many, but enough to recognize it when he heard it. </p><p>This had never once seemed to apply to his relationship with Draco Malfoy. </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Basically some people have marks and others don't, but if you do it could mean either love or hate. </p><p>Not sure how many chapters this will be so I guess we're just going to wait and see. Probably under ten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Simple Introductions

There was a muggle saying, "the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." Harry had heard it a few times growing up, not too many, but enough to recognize it when he heard it. 

This had never once seemed to apply to his relationship with Draco Malfoy. 

From the moment they met it was obvious there was something there, something that always burned a bit to bright, a bit to hot, they never once were 'just friends,' not Draco and Harry, but Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. 

~~~~~

Draco couldn't exactly say he'd hated Harry as a child. More like he'd thought he was supposed to hate him, or maybe part of him had hated what Harry represented to him, one part uncertainty and one part someone who would always be better than him. 

When he was seven years old the mark had started to appear, a dark blob like shape, narrower on one side and stark against the pale of his skin, just below his left elbow. He covered the disappointment drawn so harshly on his arm with a sticky piece of the covering his aunt had given him for his birthday years back and went down to tell his parents the news. 

Lucius Malfoy's only child would not be allowed to marry for power or purity. 

Fate had other intentions. 

~~~~~

Harry Potter was placed on the Dursley's doorstep with not one, but two new and permanent marks on his skin, a lightning bolt on his forehead, and a bright white shape with clear outlines almost unheard of at just over one year old just to the left of his sternum. 

~~~~~ 

 

When Draco had turned eleven and the dark shape on his arm had finished filling in, a mark reader was brought to the manor to tell him what it meant, the second person to ever see it, as was traditional. 

Draco glared at the top of her head as she stared at his arm for nearing five minutes before she finally spoke, and when she did Draco was glad his parents weren't in the room for his either. 

"He, yes he it will be a he, will be the sort to wear his heart on his sleeve." Draco nearly snorted at the thought, but reined himself in enough to remain silent. After another, shorter, silence she touched the center of his mark twice, a light tap with the tip of her finger. "There's tragedy here. Don't bother looking, you won't be able to see it yet anyway." At this point Draco was growing rather bored of staring at her grating hair, but knew better than to show it. 

"See this end here? The end closest to your heart? It moves outwards. He will be the give to your take, at times it will seem as though he gives more than he has." She dragged her finger along the curved edge as she spoke, her voice and touch both slow and even, stopping at the end and moving quickly, one decisive tap at the point opposite the curve. "Your words will always be sharper than his, you must learn to watch them, otherwise you won't know where to stop. You'll either give to much away or lose him if you don't."

"Give to much away, or lose him.." Draco repeated slowly and quietly. "Which is he then?" 

She was silent for a long moment. Draco felt as though she were waiting for the entire world to quiet down and come close so that she could give him what felt like the most important information of his entire life. 

When she finally spoke it was nearly a whisper, "Straight lines speak of enemies, gentle curves speak of forever. He could be one, the other, or both. He could be the best or worst thing to ever happen to you. You may have to decide for yourselves." She paused once more before shattering the stillness of the moment, dragging the pad of her thumb firmly across his arm, from white to black to white again, "ah what a lovely contrast the two of you will make!" 

She stood up quickly, "Lovely reading you, young Draco. May we meet again in twenty years for your own children. Good luck to the both of you!" And with that she was gone, leaving Draco alone in the silent library that seemed to want to crush him with its emptiness.

~~~~~


	2. Chapter two: Harry knows nothing, as per the usual

Growing up Harry hadn't been given very many opportunities to observe other people, and even those opportunities were useless when it came to understanding his mark, seeing as neither the Dursley's nor Mrs. Figg happened to have one, and no one spoke to him beyond what was necessary at his school. 

By the time Harry's letter to Hogwarts came Harry had only had one conversation regarding his mark, which consisted of Mr. Dursley ranting about how pointless the marks were, and how they really were "such an ill-conceived notion that it made him sick." Needless to say that conversation was not particularly enlightening for Harry. 

So when Harry started his first year he knew just about nothing about the mark on his chest, besides what it looked and felt like, and the odd feeling that it meant something important. 

In fact, due to Harry's shyness undressing in front of his room- or teammates and the excitement of suddenly being a wizard, it was a few weeks after the end of first quarter before anyone realized that Harry even one, and had no idea what it meant. 

Harry was in the Gryffindor boys dormitory's bathroom when it happened. He was changing his clothes near the mirror and happened to look over and see it, the realization he'd hardly thought about it in weeks with all that had been going on lately struck him and he took a moment to stare at it in the mirror. 

Just as he was wondering if it had changed at all in the weeks he hadn't paid attention to it and leaned forward to look at it in the mirror a bit better Ron walked in. 

"Ron!" Harry spun around to face him, one hand automatically flew to his chest, only partially covering the mark and doing very little to hide it, bright white as it was against his dark skin. 

Ron's eyes immediately went to the mark, seemingly studying it for half a second before returning to Harry's face with a shrug. "Huh. Didn't know you had one, neat," he remarked casually as he walked over to the sink to brush his teeth. 

Harry was silent for a moment, "... You know what it is then... Don't you?" 

Ron turned back to Harry with an incredulous look on his face, "of course I do, why wouldn't I?" He stopped a second, noticing Harry's nervousness before continuing slowly, ".... You don't?" 

Harry just shook his head in response, wide eyed. "How could you not know? They're- well they mean- Actually I think Hermione could probably explain it better than I could, the know-it-all." He chuckled a bit at that, the insult lacking most of the venom it would have had not even a month ago. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How could you not know?" Hermione's expression as she asked this was oddly similar to the one Ron had sported earlier that same day. 

"That's what I said!" Ron practically shouted, only to be immediately shushed by the nearby librarian. In an a moment of out-of-character forethought, Ron had suggested they have this conversation in somewhere slightly less public than the great hall in the middle of breakfast. 

Hermione ignored his interruption for once, "Harry, everyone knows about the soulmarks, you can't even use the muggle fam excuse this time, they nearly as common in muggles as wizards, for Merlin's sake." 

Harry took a second to wonder at how quickly the two of them had picked up the phrase, considering neither had heard it before a couple of months ago. 

"Harry, are you paying attention?" Hermione asked, dragging him back to the present. "I took the opportunity to research them a bit after my- I mean a couple of years ago. About a third of the muggle population has them, but according to Binns, it's actually closer to forty percent of the wizarding population."

"For every mark, there's another person with a similar mark somewhere. Your marks mean you'll play a large role in each other's lives. There's a few different categories of marks, but it's nearly impossible to tell just by looking at them, although there are certain qualities that are more common in one group or another, and some people do claim that they can tell the difference." 

"The first category means that you will fall in love with each other." Harry started to say something but was silenced with a single look from Hermione, mostly because it was far more threatening than the looks she usually gave him.

"The second is a bit more common than the others, and simply means there will be a bond with strong emotions around it, an important friendship, or sometimes even close family members." 

"Fred and George have 'em, you know. Have since they were four. Yellow and purple ones on their hips. George's right and Fred's left. Say they've always been attached at the hip." 

"Have they really? That's awfully young, I wonder if extended exposure could have caused them to appear prematurely..." Hermione was lost in thought about this for a few seconds before Harry cleared his throat, hoping to get her attention. She pulled her hand away from her dark curls before continuing.

"Anyway, that brings us to the third. Harry, this is the least common, less than ten percent of marks, but it means that you'll be enemies." They were all three silent for a moment. 

"There are certain qualities of the marks, placement, solidity, shape, patterns, and so on that are supposed to tell a lot about the other person or the relationship, but the interpretations are kept close to the mark readers, it does pay well after all." 

Here Ron butted in, "oh and a lot of wizards keep them hidden from others, especially those from older families, they think it's improper to show 'em off."

"Actually lot of muggles do too, some think that the marks force relationships and want to avoid that, they think it's less destiny and more.. Well because it's what's expected of them. Plus, there's bound to be someone out there with a mark similar enough to mistake it for your pair, although there's supposed to be some kind of feeling so that you know." She let out a little snort at this, as though to say she wasn't sure she believed in such foolishness. 

Just then Harry realized that the entire library was basically emptied out, which could only mean one thing. 

They were definitely going to be late for potions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear there will be some Draco in the next chapter, I just really wanted to give you guys some explanation, I've already started on the next piece and he is definitely in it. There is also some proper preteen idiocy. It'll be great. 
> 
> Oh and if anyone is wondering you guys can call me "The Almighty Razz" 
> 
> No? Just Razz works then.


	3. Chapter Three: Gotta Find Out Sometime.

Harry still wasn't sure why he'd agreed to the bet. It was stupid and he had known before agreeing that winning was a long shot. He shivered a bit in the November air, naked but for a pair of boxers and a thin t-shirt, his robes and worn jeans in a pile beside him. 

Harry took a couple of seconds to watch the water ripple several feet below. At least it wouldn't be so bad, it was barely above freezing outside, but the water was charmed to stay warm during the winter so that the giant squid wouldn't freeze. Actually, now that he thought about it, he was fairly sure he could see a bit of steam coming off of it. It might even be nice. 

Harry took off his glasses and handed them to a nearby blur that he thought was probably Ron, due to the reddish color of the top part. Seamus whispered, "Merlin, he's actually going to do it!" For what was probably the fifth time. 

Harry ignored him, and took one last deep breath, drawing up the Gryffindor courage he was supposed to have so much of, and leapt. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco was bored. 

Draco was the kind of bored that makes your skin seem to itch and everything seems awful because you're just soooo bored. It was November now, and bitterly cold out, but he was just going to die of boredom if he couldn't find something to do in the next ten minutes and that would be such an undignified death his father would surely bring him back to life just so that he could be properly punished for dying in such a ridiculous manner. 

That would not do. 

"Blaise. Pansy. I'm going to go for a walk. You may come along if you'd like." Draco unfolded himself smoothly from the common room chair, purposely pushing disinterest into his posture as he headed down the hall to fetch a cloak from his room. 

He had known the two since he was a toddler, their parents had set up times for them to meet and play and go on outings to insure they would have pure blooded friends when they began school instead of mixing with the other students, but still he was putting on a bit of an act, not wanting the other Slytherin students to see him acting like he actually cared until he had decided how far their association should go, a matter mostly but not entirely decided already. It was good to keep up appearances around others. 

Draco quickly swung his coat around his shoulders in his excitement, but forced himself to count to ten before exiting the room, not wanting the students to know how much he needed this. 

Blaise couldn't be bothered to move off of the couch, apparently immune to cabin fever, but Pansy was ready to leave by the time he had returned. 

"Shouldn't stay on that couch to long now, Blaise. Wouldn't want you to lose what little good looks you have, now would we?" Pansy teased Blaise before heading towards the door. 

Blaise shot her a look, the poison of it tempered by the slightest touch of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. He rolled his eyes and did a shooing motion with his finger tips that somehow managed to be patronizing before pulling a book from Merlin knows where and beginning to read. 

"I'm not so sure he needs to worry about that, Pansy." Draco commented once the door was shut behind them. Suddenly alone the two of them relaxed a bit without even thinking. 

"What?" Pansy shot him a Look. 

"What do you mean, what? I'm just saying, he's better looking than just about any other guy in our year."

Pansy paused a second before replying. "I suppose, but it is rather fun to tease him about it, isn't it?" She gave Draco a small smile with a touch of mischief in her dark eyes. Anyone who knew her less than he did doubtlessly wouldn't have seen it, but Draco had known her nearly as long as his family. 

The two made their way through the halls and outside and decided to turn right once they were far enough out to have to, a decision Draco would regret quite a few times over the course of the next few years, seeing as the path to the right led them to Harry Potter, and just in time for Draco to watch him climb out of the lake. 

Draco opened his mouth when he saw him, a remark about how Harry must smell quite awful indeed if they were forcing him to bathe himself in the lake, but it died on his lips when Harry stood and turned towards him. 

Draco froze, eyes locked onto a point on Harry's chest, just above his heart, where his soulmark happened to be extremely visible through his soaked t-shirt. 

Luckily for Draco, Pansy noticed his shock before Harry did, and immediately had an insult to hurl in order to keep Harry from noticing as well. "Careful swimming in there, Potter. If you're that filthy you need to bathe in the lake it could make the squid ill, and you do know how we all prefer it to you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Pansy and Draco returned to the Slytherin commons she immediately dragged him towards his room, asking them to leave with a look that said that she knew exactly where they slept and had a few ideas of what to do with that information. 

Apparently this was enough to get four preteen boys out of their room in under ten seconds. Nobody was particularly surprised. 

Pansy watched the door close behind them before spinning around to level Draco with a similar look. "Now, you are going to tell me exactly what that was about." She didn't bother adding an "or..", as there wasn't actually another option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does she know what his mark looks like already? Did she see Harry's? Will he tell her? Will he act like a dick and brush her off? Who knows. Certainly not me. 
> 
> I can't believe I just did a cliffhanger. I hate cliffhangers. 
> 
> Anyway, I finished this just before three am because I felt bad it had been so long so please don't judge me if this chapter sucks. 
> 
> -Raz
> 
> Ps: to all of those who just got out of school or just graduated, congrats! Yay you for sticking out another year of that awful place. Or like nice work and accomplishment if you didn't hate school as much as I did. Not that anything bad happened to me at school, just didn't enjoy it.


	4. Chapter Four: What Was That About?

"Now, you are going to tell me exactly what that was about." The words seemed to echo just a touch in the silence, but seemed so very far away to him. 

Draco sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, as though his legs couldn't possibly hold him a moment longer. He stared at the floor about a yard ahead of him blankly, thumb rubbing over his left arm where a simple glamour hid the mark on his forearm. 

Pansy gave him a moment before saying anything else. ".. Draco?" 

The sound of his name seemed to snap him out of his thoughts. "Nothing. Nothing happened Pans." 

Pansy rolled her eyes at his lame attempt to shake her off of whatever had happened. "Oh yes. You bloody look like you've seen a threstral but no nothing happened, you're absolutely fine of course." She muttered, her words irritated and absolutely dripping with sarcasm.

"Pa-"

"No. Don't 'Pans' me. I can bloody well tell when there's something going on with you, you arse! You're not going to brush me off like a bleeding Hufflepuff!" She turned from the length of the room she'd been pacing to face him. "I'm getting bloody tired of this, Draco." 

Draco stared at her, shocked enough by her outburst his walls had fallen for the moment. "... Alright." He said quietly after a few seconds. 

She let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the bed next to him. She let him stare at her for a couple seconds, clearly judging how likely she would be to tell, before she nudged him with a quiet, "well? Out with it, Draco." 

He looked down at his hands for a couple seconds, searching for the words before simply pulling out his wand and removing the glamour from his arm. 

There was a quiet intake of breath when she realized how similar his was to the one she had seen minutes ago. "Which one is it?" She asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Draco immediately knew what she meant. The age old question: friend or foe? Nemesis or confidant? The one he'd love more than anything, or hate? It didn't even occur to Draco that it could be a close friendship. Things between he and Harry were never simple, common and ordinary would never describe their relationship, he was sure of it. 

"I have no idea." He admitted quietly, more to himself than to the girl sitting next to him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What was that about?" Harry asked once the pair of Slytherins had left. 

"He did seem a bit quiet didn't he?" Ron replied, as if his behavior was merely a bit curious rather than completely out of character for the blond. 

"He looked as though he'd seen a ghost!" 

"What? I doubt he'd be qui-" Ron said slowly, confused, before Harry cut him off. 

"No it's a muggle saying. He looked like he'd had a huge shock, Ron." Harry said quickly, shaking his head. 

Suddenly the blood seemed to rush from Harry's face, his naturally dark complexion enough you couldn't quite say he looked pale. His hand went to his chest immediately, fingers pressed against the mark on his chest. 

"Do you think he saw it?" Harry asked quickly, a touch of fear in his eyes. 

"Dunno, maybe." Seamus said, as though it didn't particularly matter, one way or the other. "Purebloods are a touch particular about them. Don't like showing them to others." 

The three all looked to Ron, the only pureblooded wizard of the group. "What?You all know my fam isn't like that." He looked a touch offended at the implication. 

"It doesn't matter much anyway. If he wants to get all offended by it, I'd say let him. Not our problem, is it?" Dean said before changing the subject to an upcoming quidditch match. 

If the others noticed Harry's lack of input in the conversation the decided not to mention it as he walked silently beside them, trying to figure out why the idea that Malfoy could have seen his mark seemed like such a big deal to him. Maybe it was simply that so few had seen it, and he seemed the type to say something rude about it. 

Harry was, of course wrong. His discomfort was the part of him that knew Draco was its soulmate trying to communicate just how important this was to an extremely unobservant preteen boy. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

After a few minutes spent thinking on and discussing the matter with Pansy, Draco decided that, despite the discomfort in his gut at the statement, Harry was most definitely meant to be his enemy. They already 'hated' each other, didn't they? 

There was no way his true love would have denied him so completely in just their second meeting. 

That was not how these things were supposed to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter was a bit short, but it didn't feel right to add anything else to it. I'm already laying out the next chapter though so you guys won't have to wait as long for the next one. 
> 
> Can't exactly set the whole story in year one though so there'll be a bit of a time jump inbetween this one and the next, I'll say it again at the beginning of the chapter though so nobody gets confused. 
> 
> I just realized I switched from the spelling "Razz" to "Raz" so sorry about that, I think I'll be sticking to Raz though from here on though. 
> 
> -Thanks for all the kudos and the comments, Raz


End file.
